Paper and Tin Foil
by Caidreabh
Summary: Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight...


Title: Paper and Tin Foil  
  
Author: Laura/Caidreabh  
  
Category: Sara/Grissom POV  
  
Rating: PG.

  
Summary: Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight…

  
Disclaimer: CSI and all the characters in this story are property of Alliance Atlantis Productions and CBS. I'm only a fan who tries to write half as well as Anthony Zuiker and Ann Donahue.****

  
Author's notes: This story was inspired by my own little tree that's on my desk but still has yet to be decorated. There's symbolism in this story, but like most of what I write, I'm not sure how obvious it is. Thanks go out to Amber and Eolivet for all their wonderful advice and encouragement on this story. I couldn't have done it without you two!

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It was December fifteenth. He only knew because he had to, because he had submitted paperwork earlier that morning. Once upon a time, he would have been eagerly counting down the days-- ten days left until Christmas! But he didn't anymore.

Nostalgia had stirred in him the day before. He had gone into his closet and pulled out an old photo album his mother had left him. Who would have thought Gruesome Grissom would keep family heirlooms? Even he had forgotten he had the album. He flipped through it, finding pictures of the Christmas trees he and his mother had decorated, their annual tradition. He used to ride his bike down the beaches of Marina Del Ray, picking up sea glass. He'd take it back to his mother's art studio, where she would carefully glue strings of fishing line to the widest edge, tying a loop so that it could be hung on the tree. While his mother worked, he would take scraps of paper and tin foil and cutting and gluing them together into a many-faceted star. "Of course," he'd say to his mother, "the _real_ star over Bethlehem wasn't shaped like this. It was a big ball of gas…"

            But in all his childhood years, he never questioned the scientific probability of a star really being over Bethlehem on that exact day.

            It was all so long ago.

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            Sara unabashedly hummed "Frosty the Snowman" as she hung pine swags over the reception desk in front of the laboratory. Decorating for Christmas always took her back to her childhood. As long ago as she could remember, she had taken charge of decorating her parent's seaside bed and breakfast for Christmas. One year, annoyed by the carefree attitude they had towards decorating, she took charge. She decided to draw on the ocean for inspiration, so she walked back and forth along the beach, carefully dodging the waves, collecting sea glass. She glued loops of yarn to the glass and decorated her tree with her homemade ornaments and little white blinking lights. Then she found some paper and tin foil, and carefully cut out a perfectly symmetrical star.

            It was all so long ago.

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            The sound of a familiar voice humming drew Grissom to the lobby of the lab. He was mildly surprised to see Sara standing there, hanging tiny sea glass ornaments on a small tree standing on the receptionist's desk. He stood for a minute, watching her, until she sensed his presence.

            "My dad was going through my mom's things after she passed away last summer. He found these. I made them when I was ten. I was going to hang them at home, but I spend more time at the lab, anyway."

            Grissom had forgotten Sara's mother had passed away. But he walked up closer and inspected the tree, not saying anything. He picked up an ornament that Sara had yet to hang, and held it in his hand, feeling its weight, studying it. "I used to help my mother make ornaments like this, he said. "Well, she'd make them, and I'd make a star out of—"

            "Paper and tin foil?" Sara offered.

            He looked at her, amazed, but she just shrugged and went back to decorating the tree. After a long, awkward silence, Grissom finally asked, "Can I help you with anything?"

            "Sure," Sara responded, not turning her attention away from the little tree. "You can…" She paused.

            "I can what?"

            "Um, hang the mistletoe. It's over there," she said, gesturing to a pile of lights, bells, and ornaments.

            "Mistletoe?" Grissom questioned.

            Once again, Sara shrugged in response. "It wasn't too expensive."

            He found a place to hang it on the wall, and worked quietly for several minutes as he secured it with green wire. When he was finished, he called Sara over. "Look ok to you?" he asked.

            "You're forgetting something, aren't you?" she responded, a bit more playfully than she had intended. "We're supposed to kiss, if we're both standing under the mistletoe."

            They caught each other's gaze for a long moment, but this time the silence wasn't awkward. Finally, Grissom said, "Technically, we're not under the mistletoe, we're a foot in front of it."

            Sara turned red and looked away, embarrassed. Finally, she found words. "You want to… help me find some paper and tin foil?" 

            The mistletoe would still be there, later.


End file.
